Time After Time {Steve Harrington x OC}

3

Hawkins High School was a small, one-story building that sat about 100 yards from the town's middle school. The school's colors were green and orange, which, in Sadie's ranking of school colors sat above blue and orange but still fairly low on the list. 

The counselor that handed Sadie her schedule seemed nice enough though, offering to show her to her homeroom before Caroline waved her off. 

"We have the same homeroom. The school's so small that J and M are grouped together."

Since Sadie's first day was also the first day of the year, most of her teachers didn't notice the fact that she was new, which she was eternally grateful for. 

She was also grateful for the fact that the majority of her classes were with Caroline. It meant she didn't have to make any new friends or converse with desk partners she had no inclination to get to know. 

The only classes she had without her were AP Lit and Chemistry. It was for the best that Caroline wasn't in Lit with her, since it was a content-heavy class that Sadie really wanted to get the most of without her friend distracting her. 

Chem was another story. When she'd shown her schedule to Caroline, the girl had frowned. 

"This must be a mistake. They have you taking Chemistry. We all took Chemistry sophomore year."

Sadie sighed, "It's not a mistake. Most schools teach Chem sophomore year, but I totally flunked it, and then the school I went to last year didn't require it to graduate, so I didn't retake it. Now I'm getting what I deserve."

"Well...good luck! Ms. O'Leary is a real hardass." 

"Great, thanks." 

When the time came to go to Chem, Sadie waved to Caroline and pushed the door to the lab open. She felt her heart rate begin to pick up as she saw that all the other students in the class were clearly younger than her. 

A middle-aged woman with a tight knot of stringy hair and a scarily thin frame stood at the chalkboard in the front of the room. She examined Sadie over her readers. 

"Name?" She had some sort of accent. 

"Mealey."

Ms.O'Leary looked at her roster, "Mmm. The other senior. Have you taken Chemistry before?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"And you failed it?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Well. That won't happen in my class. Not if you work hard and really put your mind to it. Will you do that?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Because I don't give pity points to seniors. Even if they're just one credit away from graduating. There's an honor system here at Hawkins and I plan to follow it. Am I clear?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Take a seat at the table in the back. You'll partner with Harrington. The other senior."

Great. 

Sadie turned to see that "Harrington" was in fact Steve Harrington, the one she'd met yesterday. He sat slouched in his seat with his feet up on the table. Sadie studied him as she walked over. His hair was styled perfectly, with only a few intentional hairs falling out of place from what Sadie could already identify as his "signature" swoop. 

He was wearing crisp, white reeboks that looked almost fresh out of the box, blue jeans, and a polo tucked into them. He was staring into space and twiddling a pencil between his fingers, though it didn't much seem like he intended to use that pencil, he didn't have a single notebook or paper out on the desk. 

What was the best course of action here? Start with an opening line? A classic "Come here often?" is always a great icebreaker. Or should she just say hi? There was no guarantee of him recognizing her, and she didn't want to seem like she knew him when he didn't know her. That was pathetic. 

She opted to just not say anything. Wait and see if he recognizes her, and go on from there. 

Just as the bell rang, she took the chair next to him. Ms. O'Leary started talking and Sadie directed her attention toward the front of the room.  Without looking at him, she saw Steve Harrington sit up straighter and take his feet off of the table the second he looked at her. 

"Hey." He whispered as Ms. O'Leary began writing on the board. Sadie quickly looked over at him before turning her attention back to the class. 

"Aren't you a senior?" He asked. 

"Aren't you?" She shot back, still looking ahead. 

"Fair point."

"I'm full of fair points. Fun fact about me." 

"Interesting. Last I heard you were full of good ones. So is it like a time-share situation or are both just crammed in there together?"

So he did remember meeting her in the record store. And he was continuing with the banter. This time, his body language was different. He had moved forward to hunch over the desk and was leaning towards her. 

Sadie caught the faintest scent of cologne. And something else she recognized..."It's more of like, a commune-type sitch. They all live together in harmony, pulling their own weight. Not only am I full of fair points and good ones, but I've also got a bunch of zingers, comebacks, and hypotheticals bouncing around in there."

He scoffed, "Okay. Give me a "zinger" right now."

"It's not something that I can just conjure on command."

"If you can't zing on command then I really doubt you're full of them."

Sadie snorted. She still hadn't fully faced him, but she could feel his eyes on her. This was quite a change from yesterday when he wouldn't even look at her. Her stomach seemed to do a little flip. 

Rule number one of Sadie's 5 step guide to not catching feelings: Never assume there is any romantic or deep meaning to anything a man ever does. He could outright say he loves you and it wouldn't mean a thing. They are dirty liars that don't ever know their true feelings. 

Plus, he has a girlfriend and he's known to be a flirt. So. 

Ms. O'Leary seemed to agree, "Harrington if I have to spend another year watching you mindlessly flirt in the back of my class I might kill myself. Please have mercy on my old soul."

Every sophomore's head turned to the back of the room as Steve leaned forward and put on a dazzling smile, "Oh you know I would never wish any harm on you Ms.O'Leary!" 

It was clear that he used that type of charm on teachers all the time, and Sadie guessed that it usually worked. But all O'Leary did was purse her lips and turn back to her board. 

Steve shook his head and turned back to Sadie, "I try that shit on her every year and she's the only teacher that doesn't take the bait. This year I guess I'll actually have to try in here."

"Guess so." Sadie said shortly. Entitlement was one of the many things she had a short fuse for, and boy was he beginning to sound entitled. 

Steve stared at her for a second before slouching back down in his chair and using the pencil he'd been playing with earlier to scratch something into the wooden leg of the table. 

After class let up and he practically bolted out of the door, Sadie took a glance at the table leg. there was a little "S + N" written out in jagged lines. Caroline was right, he really was all about Nancy Wheeler. 

At least their interaction hadn't been that bad. At least she got through Chemistry. At least she was going to see Caroline next period and tell her all about it.